Barrens Chat: Encore
by Megan Harris 
Jul 17th 2008 at 4:00PM
I don't get to play World of Warcraft very often anymore. Real life comes up and gets in the way all the time, and then you have to sit back and listen to your friends talk about how much fun they've had in the past few weeks you've been away. So you sit, and you wait, and eventually you get time to log on again, run around, and have a jolly old time. Especially when you get to hang out with good people.
I've never had Ventrilo or any other sort of microphone attachment that would broadcast my voice across the Internet. For one point, I'd have to break down and buy a headset of some sort. Knowing me I'd likely break it within a week, so I'd actually need to buy two, but that's alright. The other reason is, I'm not entirely sure I want the ability to hear other absent minded people like me babbling to themselves, forgetting the rest of the world can hear them.
I've never had Ventrilo or any other sort of microphone attachment that would broadcast my voice across the Internet. For one point, I'd have to break down and buy a headset of some sort. Knowing me I'd likely break it within a week, so I'd actually need to buy two, but that's alright. The other reason is, I'm not entirely sure I want the ability to hear other absent minded people like me babbling to themselves, forgetting the rest of the world can hear them.
That being said, maybe one day I will have to break down and look into Ventrilo. If for nothing else, it would be a lot easier to talk to my Australian friends than having to find a phone card that allowed calls to there.
Random characters again, but I'm sure at least some of you know people like this. This comic was though up while my sister, who doesn't play World of Warcraft (or any other electronic game for that matter), decided to sing at me while I was spacing out on the phone playing WoW.
It's the first time I had been able to play in months, give me a break!
See you next week!
Barrens Chat is a weekly comic strip that makes the whole of Azeroth want to break down and get funky. After the insanity has worn off, the people of Barrens Chat like to settle down with a nice hot coacoa around a warm fire, and reminisce about their lives. What am I talking about? I haven't a clue. Come back next week for more random fun and a new comic strip.Filed under: Horde, Orcs, Trolls, Blood Elves, Comics, Barrens Chat
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Saelorn Jul 17th 2008 4:06PM
"The other reason is, I'm not entirely sure I want the ability to hear other absent minded people like me babbling to themselves, forgetting the rest of the world can hear them."
I'm not sure this is an actual problem. You have to hold down a button when you want to talk (at least I do), so you tend to not get random chatter unless someone spaces out mid-sentence.
And if someone has annoying chatter coming from their end (usually some incompatible file setting or some junk), I just mute them.
It is a lot cheaper than calling other countries, though.
Rihlsul Jul 17th 2008 4:35PM
Yup...
> "The other reason is, I'm not entirely sure I want the ability to hear other absent minded people like me babbling to themselves, forgetting the rest of the world can hear them."
Made me cringe a little. I don't want to pick on those lacking in what is basic knowledge for a lot of us wow players, but I will ask - if you're *that* unfamiliar with wow culture, should you be a comic artist on a blog for that culture?
Speaking of lack of knowledge, go buy a headset and pester your Aussie buds to join you on Skype or many of the other free VOIP options. You'll save so much from simply buying a headset and not minutes, plus you can conference call up to a few folks in.
Megan Harris Jul 18th 2008 9:08AM
@Saelorn: The spacing out thing is sort of what I was referring to. I know you have to push a button, but if other people are anything like me, I'd likely set my elbow down on it, or push something so that it leans up against it and be singing along to a radio or something equally embarrassing.
But yeah, I space a lot when trying to talk and play, which is why my sister sang at me over the phone that one day.
@Rihsul: I'm not even sure what you were trying to imply by your second paragraph as you're pretty much repeating what I said (IE- online voice chat programs are cheaper than phone calls) unless you were thinking along the lines of Australian servers != US Servers. However, they play on US servers (since they used to live here).
And for the first paragraph, you're reading way more into what I posted than what was intended. But thanks anyways.
Michael Jul 17th 2008 4:14PM
Why is he tied up? My toons sit down when I'm AFK.
Olee Jul 17th 2008 4:42PM
And whats with the knives sticking out of the tree? What is this?
Dan Jul 17th 2008 5:03PM
Wow, this brings Barrens Chat to a new low. This comic was just terrible. Please, for the love of god stop making comics and bring /silly back!
Philo Jul 17th 2008 5:42PM
MY GOD PLEASE STOP MAKING WOW COMICS.
You're not even playing it anymore... You suck at drawing, you suck at setting up your frame, and your jokes are lame. AND you don't even play WoW much anymore.
Jay Jul 17th 2008 5:47PM
The drawing style has improved.
The jokes are, not that brilliant if I'm honest.
Megan Harris Jul 18th 2008 9:11AM
Thanks, I had a few problems when I got my new art program with it not being able to read the tablet as a pressure tablet. Made drawing rather difficult. But that's fixed now, so hopefully things go smoother.
I'm working on the jokes, different things make different people laugh. Try next weeks, I have something a little different planned.
Meiji Jul 17th 2008 6:24PM
No offense, but if you don't often play WoW any more, what does that mean for your ability to contribute as a blogger on a wow-related website? I may be thinking outside of the box here but you guys could always hire bloggers who actually are involved in the hobby still?
Megan Harris Jul 17th 2008 7:06PM
I do play, just for the next month I'm off because of having to fix my computer when the hard drive crashed.
I figure, why spend the 15$ on WoW and not be able to play because of not having a computer when I can spend the money on fixing said computer.
Agree Jul 17th 2008 6:54PM
You think after the fourth or fifth time of releasing a comic and getting 99% negative reviews you would take a hint and stop drawing them. Guess not.
Daikin Jul 17th 2008 7:08PM
This comic seriously needs to end.
Meiji Jul 17th 2008 7:12PM
Oh, okay. well comment retracted then.
Also, for the record, your comic is pretty funny. Please ignore the other inconsiderate posters.
Megan Harris Jul 18th 2008 9:12AM
Thank you, and glad I could clear that up.
MCkwa Jul 17th 2008 8:19PM
this sucks, learn to draw and if you dont play WoW anymore why are you still blogging...you suck
Megan Harris Jul 18th 2008 9:14AM
See comments 10 + 11. Thank you, glad to know I suck.
Aeo Jul 18th 2008 9:24AM
The "you suck comments and you cant draw comments" are a bit over the top and unnecessary. I bet half the people saying that cannot even draw themselves. I felt I needed to interject here because there is a *distinct* difference between offering criticism and being flat out rude. How about if you don’t like it, start up your own wowblog site and then let people comment on how much you suck just for breathing....
On topic...The drawings are very nice however I did not exactly get the gist of this specific comic. Since I cannot draw or am all that great at telling jokes, I do not have any advice to offer...But looking forward to next weeks comic!
Dan Jul 19th 2008 8:13AM
I know I can't draw or tell jokes, and I admit that. But there's the difference between me and the author, I don't try to.
The fact is that /silly shows that funny WoW comics are totally possible. This comic shows that the creator either can't think of good jokes or hides them under too much blabble (not a word, but you know what I mean). Either the jokes are too subtle for 99% of the people here (which they aren't, if there's one thing I can do it's get subtle humour), or they're just plain bad.
In the last few comics I've seen maybe one comment per comic saying that they found it funny, whereas /silly used to be funny to the majority of its audience. It's not that different people find different things funny, it's that these just aren't funny.
Sorry if I sounded rude, but I've never once seen the author reply to a piece of negative criticism, and I'm getting quite annoyed that there seems to be no attempt to make these funnier. Go look at /silly for tips, I just went back to them, and despite seeing them a long while ago still found them hilariously funny.
There's my attempt at being polite, and at some constructive criticism, I hope the author actually takes notice. As for the art, I've never actually had a problem with it. Each web comic has its own distinct art style, and half of them aren't that well drawn (although, hate to keep doing this, /silly was very nice).
Dan Jul 19th 2008 8:16AM
Sorry about the double post, but another piece of criticism I just thought of. One of the reasons why this comic in particular isn't that great, is due to the fact that it shows that you have a distinct lack of understanding of the subject matter.
People have already pointed out that that is a problem with someone who doesn't play WoW making comics about it, but this is even worse. Ventrilo uses a push-to-talk system. Although there's other methods, the vast majority use ptt, which requires you to hold down the button to talk.
This means that anyone who has ever used Vent would just not find this funny, as it's not an experience anyone would have had.